By Judy Keen, USA TODAY
When the economy started to squeeze the Wojtowicz
family, they gave up vacation cruises, restaurant
meals, new clothes and high-tech toys to become 21st-century homesteaders.
Now Patrick Wojtowicz, 36, his wife Melissa, 37,
and daughter Gabrielle, 15, raise pigs and
chickens for food on 40 acres near Alma, Mich.
They're planning a garden and installing a wood
furnace. They disconnected the satellite TV and
radio, ditched their dishwasher and a big truck and
started buying clothes at resale shops.